Label Love

 

Michigan By The Bottle sidekick Cortney shares her thoughts on wine packaging.

 

Just as the cliche warns against judging a book by its cover, it's equally unwise to judge a wine by its label. That said, it's easy to underestimate the importance of aesthetics. For the consumer unfamiliar to the nuances of a particular winery's offerings or Michigan wines in general, that first impression could mean the difference between a bottle languishing on the shelf or making it to the checkout line.  What's on the outside may well dictate — or at least play some role in — whether what's on the inside is ever discovered and embraced.

 

We recently began collecting Michigan wine bottles for use as decor around the house, and I've been struck by how appealing some of the containers and labels have become. They range from classically elegant to downright eccentric, but the most attractive, in my opinion, have two things in common: They employ repeated themes, creating brand cohesion, and they seem to project the essence and attitude of their respective wineries.

 

 

 

 

When it comes to contemporary, 2 Lads has it covered. The recent addition to Old Mission Peninsula has taken the tradition-bucking image embodied by its steel-and-glass winery and extended that modern motif to its products, with variations on a circular theme playing out across the different varietals. I think it's safe to say no other Michigan winery has so capably conveyed the overall ambience of its tasting room in its packaging. The tall, tapered look of 2 Lads' sparkling pinot grigio was so stunning to me that I transformed it into a vase for philodendron and pothos on my kitchen table, a focal point of the house. And it's been the subject of several artistic photography attempts! Its sleek lines are augmented by a rarity in Michigan bubbly: a soda pop-style cap that syncs perfectly with the look.

 

Forty-Five North also eschews the generic. The winery, one of the relative newcomers to the Leelanau Peninsula, carries its clean logo and a distinctive, scrawling font across all of its wines, but distinguishes its abundant fruit fare — including cherry wine and peach-apricot mead — with a colorful corresponding fruit image set behind the logo, making for a look that's both functional and attractive, almost whimsical.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Old Mission Peninsula's Chateau Chantal has perfected the art of elegant simplicity with its packaging. Most of the wines' labels have a classic look, with a standard font and subtle grape bunch logo atop muted artwork; some (I believe the bubbly?) have understated metallic accents. A bottle of Chateau Chantal is easily identifiable, whether it's nestled among dozens of others at the grocery store or stashed in your wine cellar. The malbec, made from Chantal's Argentinian-grown grapes, has its own distinctive label - bearing a watercolor-like vineyard vista - that distinguishes it as different from the Michigan-grown fare, yet doesn't stray too far from the rest of the winery's lineup as to feel foreign.

 

That's not to say packaging makes the juice. There are plenty of hidden treasures in Michigan wine obscured by cringe-worthy labels, ones that look woefully outdated, homemade, cluttered, faded or incomplete. But those wineries best take a cue from some of their neighbors: A homogenous theme, attitude and color palate go a long way toward catching the eye of the novice Michigan wine buyer.

Comments

[MC Dalese]

Great write-up! Thanks for writing about us - we certainly spend a LOT of time thinking about our labels and how they come across to our customers.

[Jolon]

Labels ARE important to the consumer!

I love everything about 2 Lads - the contemporary feel, the view from the tasting room, the labels, ...and the wine!!

[Shannon Casey]

Thanks Marie Chantal and Jolon. I agree that labels are very important, but often overlooked by smaller wineries.

[Chris (2Lads)]

Thanks for the compliments Cortney and Jolon!

I'll chime in and say that it can be really challenging for "boot-strapping start-ups" to see the value in truly great packaging and brand design. Scratchings on napkins and goofy pictures come along way towards getting a concept across to a pro but there is most definitely a point at which you should hand off the conceptuals to an identity/design specialist and let them 'do what they do' to make it truly iconic for you.

Tasting a wine before a purchase can give a buyer confidence beyond terrible packaging but when you need to compete on a retail shelf with other wineries where the label is one of the major factors in that purchase decision - it had better be sexy!

We had a fantastic team help us arrive at a place where we're very happy to be for identity and branding with 'The W Group' (thewgroup.com) and labels by Paul Osborne (graphicterrain.com)

[Cortcase]

Thanks for the post, Chris!

I agree, tasting is the very best way to know if a wine is for you, so that's why it's so important (and fun!) to check out the tasting rooms at the wineries themselves. Unfortunately, I'm willing to bet there are many people who turn up their nose based on appearance and are missing out on a lot of great wines.

2 Lads' packaging is definitely tops. During the Tweet & Taste, I showed off a pic of one of the sparkling wine bottles on my kitchen table with philodendron and pothos cuttings in it. Way better than any vase, and the ultimate in recycling! ;)

[orangefcat]

Why does one brand use traditional paper and some use printed designs - direct to the bottle? Is there a trend or is a supply issue?

[Shannon Casey]

Thanks orangefcat for the comments. I am not sure the reasoning behind the direct to bottle printing. I know of only one winery, St Julian, who prints directly on bottles. Furthermore, they only do it on select wines. I think it looks great and is different.